Automatic or powered tracks for seats of vehicles is well-known from many U.S. patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,015,812 issued Apr. 5, 1977 and 3,951,004 issued Apr. 20, 1976 both to M. O. Heesch. In these patents is shown a seat track mechanism in which three separate motors or motor armatures are used for the respctive motor drives, i.e., horizontal or fore and aft, vertical, front end and vertical rear end. Each such motor operates a mechanical drive for adjusting the seat position in response to the manual operation of a motor controlling switch. In such systems, a pair of switches may be provided for each motor, one switch of the pair for each direction of seat travel. One or more switches are actuated and held actuated until the seat has reached a desired position.
With these powered adjustments, an interest arose in setting a position and retaining a memory of that position so that the seat would return to that position automatically on actuation of one or more switches. In certain of the developments in this field, the door position and return was tied to the door opening and closing. The mechanisms employed included cam-operated memory devices such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,827,105 issued Mar. 18, 1958; 3,183,314 issued May 11, 1965 and 3,626,130 issued Sept. 11, 1970.
In patents of the type shown, cams or gears are positioned at a desired setting and declutched from the motor drive. The seat can then be positioned free of the setting. If the seat is to be repositioned at the setting represented by the cam, the cam is coupled to the motor by a clutch to stop the motor travel at the desired setting.